Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
She nodded, but she was still trembling under his touch when the elevator dinged open and the crush of bodies disgorged into the street. Only when she was out of the elevator did she double over and take deep, heaving breaths.
“This place…is trying to kill me,” she said.
“Yes,” Graves agreed. “Now straighten up. We have business to attend to.”
Kierse released the last of her fear. Dying by goblin fruit had been a particularly acute one since her earliest days, but she couldn’t show that fear any more than she already had. She let out one more breath and then faced this new section of the market.
Having never left New York until five months ago, it felt as if she had stepped into the future. The Shanghai market streets were loud and busy and tiered with vendors hawking their wares in several dialects of Chinese as well as English. The glowing signs were written all in Chinese characters, with a handful showing the translation in various languages underneath. Everything was fast-paced and exciting, bright and beautiful.
“The streets are named the same as downtown Shanghai,” Graves explained. “East-west streets are named after Chinese cities and north-south are named after provinces and regions. Xinjiang will take us north.”
He shouldered into the mix, and they pushed through the crowd of onlookers surrounding a phoenix who was demonstrating his fire abilities as he cooked traditional street food. Considering the line he had around the block, he wasn’t doing bad for himself. She might even try one of his little dumplings if she didn’t suspect that everything in the market was laced with goblin fruit.
Her hackles were raised after the terrible ordeal they’d had on the last two levels, but no one looked their way as they disappeared into ever-darkening and narrower streets. It was eerily silent by the time they found Xinjiang Road. The neon signs disappeared in the background as they entered a dingy street with clotheslines bridging the windows. A sign for Rizz’s Oddities was written under a sign in Mandarin that flickered in once-bright neon green. Inside, a baby was screaming at the top of its lungs. Kierse furrowed her brow, wondering if this could possibly be the right place and what sort of trap Rio had led them into.
They scouted the rest of the street just to be sure nothing was going to come at them from behind, but all seemed ordinary. For some reason, completely unrelated to the events of the evening, that made her nervous. Still, finding the bookkeeper had been the hard part. She had endured the crushing elevator fiasco. It was time for the payoff.
Graves knocked on the door. The shrill cry of a baby intensified, and a moment later, a haggard goblin woman opened it suspiciously, speaking in Mandarin. She was holding the baby in question, and the little thing’s mouth was wide open in a prolonged wail. She looked half ready to curse them out—or perhaps she already was. Kierse didn’t speak Mandarin.
Of course, Graves did…for the most part. He answered her haltingly as if it had been a while since he’d used the language, or he’d learned a similar but not exactly this dialect.
The woman immediately switched to English. “Here for Rizz?”
Graves nodded. “Yes. For Rizz. We were sent by Rio.”
She bounced the baby on her hip, sighed, and called into the shop. “Rizz! Rio sent you more charity.” She ushered them inside. “He can’t run a shop if his life depended on it. We have a new baby and still he would rather tinker with his clocks than sell the wares he has.”
“Congratulations!” Niamh said excitedly. “How adorable.”
“She’s not adorable when she’s shrieking at all hours of the night. His mother says we should give her some liquor and put her back down. It explains so much about Rizz now, doesn’t it? Even in the market it’s frowned upon to let the baby drink. It’s not all about how it was done the generation before. You can’t even have anything in the crib with her.” She cooed down at her wailing child. “At least she’s cute.”
Niamh stepped up to the distressed mother, looking the baby over. “Oh, she’s a delight. You’re a wonderful mother. I bet you’re doing the best you can and someone is just fussy.”
The goblin woman beamed under the praise, and they headed over to a bassinet in the corner together to continue their conversation. Kierse and Graves exchanged an uncomfortable look. Kierse had never seen a baby survive on the streets—not when they stole childhoods from everyone.
A male goblin appeared then, wearing multi-lens glasses, with frazzled brown hair and large greenish lips. The resemblance to Rio was there if Kierse squinted just right.
“What’s this about?” Rizz asked.
Kierse stepped forward. “Rio sent us.”
He sighed. “What did my sibling get me into this time?”